Finishing up September. On Wednesday the 29th Thomas had an open house for his Preschool. Mary came with and the three of us went to explore the school. Then we met the other three down the road for our Wednesday night church small group we've been gathering with. It's a family thing with a TON of kids... not every couple is there every week, but we typically have 5 couples and 14 kids. We have a sitter watch the kids inside or outside while we meet to discuss life, the past weeks' sermon, and just connect with fellow Christians.
Thursday September 30th Isaac got his SPACER OUT! WOOHOO! It did it's job, create some space in his mouth, making room for the adult teeth and hopefully avoiding the need to have any unnecessary teeth pulled in the future. Now it's just regular braces and letting them do their job. He feels like a whole new boy with that hardware out of his mouth.
Last year when we left Minnesota, our dentist recommended consulting with some orthodontists to start the process for Isaac's mouth. He has a VERY small mouth for the amount of teeth he has/will be getting, so getting a spacer put in to expand his top pallet should help with avoiding the need to get lots of teeth pulled in the future. Last January when we first moved here we checked out three different orthodontists. We decided on one we liked and at first it was just a waiting game.
The one we choose was also the one that mentioned how large Isaac's adenoids were. So this led us to get his adenoids out and ear tubes place (pre CoVID thank you Lord). Read that post here.
We had a 4 month follow up with the Ortho doc and first he wanted him to lose the lateral incisors and the canines as well as have the front two teeth fully developed. So we waited for that.
One out, this was March 2020; you can see the lack of space in his top mouth.
In June 2020 the canines weren't budging, so the ortho ordered the density to remove them. We hadn't yet found a density so it worked to get their recommendation and develop a family dentist. Isaac did GREAT! And was such a trooper, the dentist and hygienist said he took the numbing shot better than some adults.
So nothing happened for another six months, then we had our follow up appointment with the orthodontist in December 2020. At this point we got the go ahead and they did the consult where we developed a plan and things were getting set in motion.
So the plan was to place the expander on the top, and then bottom braces. We would start with 11 days of turns for the expander and go from there. So this appointment they took scans and photos. Then Isaac came back the following week to get some spacers put in on the top to make space for the expander bands. Kyle brought him to this appointment while I was in Galveston. Then the week after that we would go in to get the mold done for the expander, then another two weeks later we'd come in to get everything put on and in place.
So beginning of January he had the mold done and we waited two weeks for the expander to be made from the mold:
Then two weeks later, on January 20th, we went in to have it all put on.
Here he is picking out the color for the bottom braces bands
Expander put in. He wore it for a little bit to get used to it then they took it out and put it back in again. So he had a little bit of a break. It was very hard for him at first, he couldn't swallow and wanted to spit and it took a good couple days for him to get used to talking with it.
Now time for the lower brackets to be put on
Orange bands and wire put in! Good to go. They had us turn his expander each night for the first 11 days. Then we returned in 2 weeks for a follow up.
We returned in those couple weeks and they extended the lower bracket wire to go all the way to the back. Each time he comes in he will get to choose new colors. This time he picked blue. We are not doing any more turns of the expander for now and will return in 6 weeks. You can already see some progress in that lower row, that one tooth that was back is getting pulled up a bit. He's pretty used to them and talks just fine now. He has a nice routine down for brushing and we got him a water pick to help with the flossing. At first food was getting stuck up in the expander but in only those 11 days it expanded enough to make food easier to come out if it gets stuck.
That brings us up to the present. Not going back until middle of March.
Summer has arrived. Well almost. The girls are out of school and Isaac finishes up this week. Feels so good to be outside!!!!
I am also loving riding the bike for local errands. Last week we rode to Whole Foods for a small grocery run. Mary rode her bike along side me and I just had Emma and Thomas on the back of mine. I had taken all three to their dentist appointment a few weeks prior and whoa it was a killer. Much easier with just two kiddos than three. So now that Mary is pretty confident on her bike it's fun to ride with her on her own bike. Emma really wants to ride her own but she's not quite as fast on the tricycle. We did however let the kids all ride their bikes to this same location Memorial Day Monday. Kyle and I walked pushing Thomas and the three big kids rode their bikes.
Next day of the week, still outside riding bikes!
Caught Thomas sorting money, :-)
Isaac had a dentist appointment mid May and they found a cavity so he had to go back in to get it filled. Did great, Kyle took him right after school on Monday the 20th.
Boys reading books on the top bunk.
Kids watching for daddy to arrive home one day.
Thursday, May 23rd I gave Harpo a haircut, way over due! He feels and looks so much better. Everytime I trim him I say I'm not going to wait as long next time. He was matted I had to cut a lot out so the trim isn't the best. And his poor back is so boney. He is pretty thin these days even though we feed him tons. I couldn't get the clippers that close to his skin on his back because of his bones.
May 25th - Saturday we went for a bike ride to dinner in uptown.
Sunday after church we went to get a couple of bushes and bags of mulch to replace the ones that died. I had also planted my flower boxes a few days before. We moved some ground coverage I had tried to spread on the side and replaced it with the wood-chips that were there before. Moved the ground coverage down to by the side walk, maybe it'll do better there.
We went for a walk to the beach and hit up triangle park on the way home. There was a badmitten net and racks there so we played a little game.
Baseball in the back yard over memorial day weekend.
We watched our friend's dog over Memorial Day weekend. Harpo enjoyed having company and the extra attention it brought :-)
Taking my new bike for a spin around the block. Mary right at my side.
Sunday after camping we wen to the beach. Everyone wanted to swim but it ended up just being me and Mary because the water was COLD!
Mary loves to walk to the bus stop in the morning, she's ready to get on it herself but has to wait until the fall.
We are spending much of our time outside these days, riding bikes in the front. Monday I started a race and timed them going around a loop. They had fun taking turns and getting timed. Thomas wore footie PJs while camping (he doesn't normally) and pulled them out this day for me to put on him.
Mary loves biking!
Video of Thomas. This is 23 months :-)
This photo was snapped by Thomas.
These came home in Isaac's backpack. I love his bucket list and already typed up a check list so he can keep track of what we do. I'm not so sure about the swimming 6 miles but I'm willing to let him attempt it. He read the most books in his class, that total count is CHAPTERS and books. He is reading chapter books now so would tally each chapter for his reading log. I guess his teacher counted them all up for the year. He actually missed a few weeks turning it in so it'd probably even be higher, he is a lover of books.
Isaac had a great year of chess on Friday's. Even got this awesome trophy!
Tuesday night we checked out a new restaurant Lucky Cricket. Mary spotted this truck on her way to the bathroom and was so excited to show us all when we were done eating.
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